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The Bahamas Oil Refining Co. (BORCO) storage terminal in Freeport, Bahamas, is set to expand and return to its original capacity of 20 million barrels by the end of 2009, Tom Sikorski, Managing Director of stakeholder First Reserve, told OPIS earlier this week.

The terminal, located in Freeport, Bahamas, just 80 miles of the coast of Florida, is the largest storage terminal in the Caribbean offering blending, transhipment and bunkering services from a strategically positioned location.

First Reserve and Vopak completed their acquisition of the Bahamas Oil Refining Company (BORCO) terminal - renamed Vopak Terminal Bahamas - in April 2008. The equity value of the new company amounted to $550 million, split 80%-20% between First Reserve and Vopak respectively.

Vopak is the world's largest independent tank terminal operator specializing in the storage and handling of liquid and gaseous chemical and oil products, whilst First Reserve Corporation is the leading private equity firm that specializes in the energy industry.

Following the acquisition of the Freeport terminal last year, the new owners pledged to expand the existing operational capacity in the near term.

Speaking at the time of the acquisition, William E. Macaulay, Chairman and CEO of First Reserve Corporation said "The facility will provide significant value for our strategic partners while also providing tremendous growth opportunities to the Bahamas."

A week ago, three large smoke stacks at the old BORCO refinery were demolished to clear the way for more expansion work as well as for enviromnental reasons.

The current operating capacity at BORCO is 14 million barrels with the remaining 6 million barrels rendered unusable due to corrosion, Sikorski said.

The majority of total operational capacity - over 10 million barrels - is used to store residual fuel and the balance is used for crude.

Last year First Reserve indicated that it the facility's capacity could be increased by up to 5 million cubic metres for the storage and handling of clean petroleum products as well as fuel oil and crude. However, Sikorski said this week that there are no concrete plans yet on whether the new tanks would be designated for dirty or clean products.

"It will depend on the storage demand of clean products," he said.